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Women and the Power of God Part III – Powerful Women Saints – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

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WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

In Part 1 of this three part series, we dealt with some of the women of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and how God used them in building up His Kingdom.   In Part 2 we looked at some of the women of the New Testament.  This third part will look at some of our women Saints and how God used their strength and courage to continue to build up His Kingdom.  As was the case in both Parts 1 and 2, this is by no means a complete list, but includes some that I personally feel should be mentioned.

Part 3 – Powerful Women Saints:

1.  St. Helena:  Saint Helena was born in to a poor and simple Roman family in Asia Minor in the mid 200’s.  Somehow she married in to a higher class Roman family when she married Constantius Chlorus.   In 274 she gave birth to Constantine and in 292 her husband, Constantius became co-regent of the West.  Shortly after that, her husband divorced her to marry the Emperor’s step daughter.   When her husband died in 308, her son Constantine became Emperor and moved her in to a place of prominence in the Roman government.  She became an Empress.

Constantine’s conversion to Christianity greatly influenced his mother and she became a good Christian.  Constantine asked his mother to find Christian relics and so in 328 she traveled to the Holy Lands.  Through contact with the local bishops there she was able to locate many Christian relics and Holy Places.  When she located the Holy places, she had large Churches built over them.  She often replaced earlier Christian structures.  In the year 130 the current Roman Emperor built a Temple to Venus over the site of Jesus’ crucifixion in order to keep Christians from worshiping there.  Helena tore down that temple and did excavations to find the original location.  In doing so she uncovered the three crosses that the early Christians venerated.  Not knowing which cross was the one Jesus died on, she had a woman who was near death brought to all three.  When she touched the first cross, nothing happened.  The same occurred on the second cross.  When she touched the third cross the woman was miraculously and immediately healed.  She found the true cross of Jesus.

Helena had a large Church, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built over that place.  She had large columns brought in from Rome that can still be seen to this day.  Helena also had churches built over the other Holy places including the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives.  Many of the Holy Places we visit today had churches built there by St. Helena.  She brought back to Rome many relics, including the True Cross.  Not only did she do this, but she is noted for helping the poor and the destitute.   She was a devout servant of God and true Christian who helped spread the Good News throughout the world.  She was a woman born in to a poor family who rose to be Empress of the Roman Empire.  She also, through a lot of hard work, re-discovered the Holy places of the Holy Lands.  Because she built large Churches over these, we can still visit these Holy places today.

2.  St. Monica:   Saint Monica is known most for her persevering in prayer.  For thirty years she prayed for her wayward son, Augustine to leave his wicked lifestyle and to become a Christian.  Not only did he become a Christian, he became one of the greatest Saints ever known.   Monica was born in 331 in Tagaste (modern day Algeria).  When she was young she was married off to a Roman pagan, Patricius.  Her husband had a violent temper.   To make things even worse, his mother lived with them and she too had a violent temper.  This caused a great deal of stress to Monica.  Monica was a good Christian but her husband would not allow their three children to be baptized.   For years she prayed for her husband and her mother in law to become Christian.  Finally about one year before her husband’s death, both became Christian.  Two of Monica’s children, Perpetua and Navigius entered the religious life, but Augustine preferred a life of drinking and laziness.   Monica sent Augustine off to school in Carthage.  There he became a Manichaean, a non-Christian religion that saw things as light or darkness.  When Augustine shared this with Monica she became so upset at him that she kicked him out of the house.  Sometime later, Monica had a vision that led her to reconcile with Augustine.   She continued to pray for his conversion but Augustine seemed to enjoy the drinking and loose life more.  Monica did not give up praying for him or trying to convince him.  She followed him to Rome and then Milan where she found the Bishop Ambrose.  St. Ambrose helped her in convincing Augustine of the trueness of Christianity.  Finally, after many years of prayers, Augustine became a Christian.  He was baptized in the Church of St. John the Baptist in Milan.  After his baptism he and Monica planned to travel together to Africa to draw more people to Christ.  She died before that could be realized.  St. Augustine shares that when Monica was close to death she told him, “Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.”  Her perseverance had won for the Church one of the greatest and brightest Saints it has ever known.

3.  St. Adelaide of Burgundy:  St. Adelaide was born a princess in 931 in Burgundy in Italy.  Even though she was a princess, she had a difficult life.  Her father died when she was only six.  When she was only 15 or 16 she was married to Lothair, the King of Italy.  Her life as a queen was difficult too.  She became a widow at the age of 18 and her Kingdom was taken over by Berengar of Ivrea and she was thrown in to prison.  Berengar wanted to have her marry his son, but Adelaide wanted nothing to do with that.  She suffered greatly in prison but knew that she had to escape.  Somehow she found the strength to escape and when heading north to Germany she found the Emperor Otho I who the Pope had sent to rescue her.  He soon became her second husband and together they were able to recapture the Kingdom of Italy that she had lost.   Pope John XII crowned them both rulers of the Holy Roman Empire in 952.  In 973 she became widowed again and her son Otto II became regent.  At this point in her life Adelaide spent most of her time in building many monasteries and churches and helping the poor.  This kind heartened and brave woman is the patron of people with second marriages and widows.

4.  St. Clare of Assisi and  5.  St. Agnes of Assisi:  St. Clare was born in 1194 to a very wealthy Italian Count.  She was known as a very beautiful girl.  As a young girl Clare dedicated herself to prayer.  When she was 18 years old she heard St. Francis of Assisi preach and went up to him asking that he help her to grow closer to God and to become more Christ like.  On Palm Sunday in 1212 she left her family and went to the chapel of Porziuncula to meet St. Francis.  At that chapel her hair was cut off and she was given a plain robe and veil and sent to the Benedictine nuns of San Paulo for formation as a nun.  Her father was furious and tried to get her to return home but she refused.  She told him that she would have no other husband than Jesus Christ.  She desired solitude to be with Jesus.  In order to give her even more solitude, Francis moved her to the Benedictine nuns of San Paulo monastery. 

St. Clare had a sister named Catarina.  Catarina also wanted a life with Christ and solitude that she could not find at home.  She joined St. Clare at this new monastery.  The two sisters remained there until a home could be built for them next to the church at San Damiano near Assisi.  This made their father even angrier and he sent a contingent to bring her back home by force.  Because of the prayers of St. Clare, miracles occurred that made it impossible to do that.  When a sword was drawn to strike Catarina, miraculously the man’s arm went limp and he couldn’t wield the sword.  Then they tried to pick up Catarina (now called Agnes because Francis named her that due to her being gentle as a lamb) she miraculously became too heavy for the men to pick up.  They then gave up and left.  Francis immediately welcomed her in and she too was put in to formation.

When the home at San Damiano was completed, both St. Clare and St. Agnes went there.  There they lived a simple life eating no meat, wearing no shoes and lived in a poor house.  They maintained silence most of the time.  Their lives consisted of prayer and manual labor.  Soon other women from Assisi joined them there and they lived according to rules of St. Francis forming the Second Order and were known as Poor Clares but officially were the “Order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano.”  St. Francis initially  was their director.  In 1216 he made St. Clare the abbess.   Later, in 1219 St. Francis made St. Agnes an abbess and sent her to Monticello near Florence.

We have some of the letters that the two sisters sent to each other.  They reflect their love for each other, for Jesus, for the Poor Clares and St. Francis.  It should be noted that Clare and Agnes had to stand up to the current Church leaders who wanted to impose upon them the rule of St. Benedict.   They stood their ground and followed St. Francis’ rule.  They also had to stand up against Muslim invaders.  In 1240 Muslims were invading the whole area around Assisi.  St. Clare, although quite sick, prayed hard to repel them and took the Eucharist and with the sisters behind her commanded them to go away.  Miraculously they obeyed.  St. Clare knew that the power of prayer and the Eucharist could stand up to these invaders.

Clare had drawn up a rule for her sisters and in 1253 Pope Innocent IV declared Clare’s rule would serve as the governing rule for Clare’s Order of Poor Ladies.  Two days later Clare died, with Agnes at her side.  She was declared a Saint two years later.  St. Agnes died three months after St. Clare.   These two women went from riches to rags, but helped to change the face of the Church.

6.  St. Joan of Arc:  Joan of Arc was born in 1412 to a poor farming family.  From her earliest childhood she loved God and was often seen in prayer.  She also loved the poor.  Around the age of 13 she started hearing voices accompanied by flashes of light.  Gradually she recognized figures who she described as Michael the Archangel, St. Margaret, St. Catherine and other Saints and angels.  These voices seemed to be leading her to go to the aid of the King,   At first she doubted these voices, but in May 1428, when she was 16 years old, she knew that they were real and that she had to do what they said.   They directed her to King Charles’ military commander Robert Baudricourt.  He was quite rude to her and said to the cousin who accompanied her: “Take her home to her father and give her a good whipping.”  The war continued on and King Charles and his supporters thought that defeat was imminent.  The voices continued to persuade Joan to go but she resisted saying, “I am a poor girl; I do not know how to ride or fight.” The voices only reiterated: “It is God who commands it.”  At that, she decided that she must go.  She went back to Baudricourt who remained skeptical.  However, her perseverance and her descriptions of battles that were later confirmed caused him to send her to the King.  Joan went to see the king dressed in male clothes.  This was probably to protect her from the soldiers along the way.

When Joan came in to the King’s presence, something interesting happened.  The King was wearing a disguise to test her and was among many other men.  Immediately, without ever having met the King before, she went to him and saluted him.   The King’s inner court thought Joan was crazy and advised the King to have nothing to do with her.  However, the voices revealed to Joan a secret that only the King knew about (probably concerning his birth) and when she told him he started to believe in her mission.  However, to be sure, he had her undergo a trial headed by bishops, doctors and theologians.  Joan’s  faith, simplicity and honesty convinced the trial committee that she was indeed of sound mind and faith and recommended that she be allowed to continue with further examination of her actions.  She returned to King Charles who gave her a sword as she prepared a campaign for fighting.  However the voices told her to have the King get a sword that was buried behind the altar in a nearby Church.  That sword was found exactly where the voices said.  She also had the King make up a shield with the name of Jesus and Mary on it as well as a picture of the Father and angels.  Interestingly the King received a report, before the battle saying “that she would save Orléans and would compel the English to raise the siege, that she herself in a battle before Orléans would be wounded by a shaft but would not die of it, and that the King, in the course of the coming summer, would be crowned at Reims, together with other things which the King keeps secret.”

Before leading the battle, Joan told the King of England to give up.  Of course, he didn’t and battle ensued.  Joan led the battle and even though many of her commanders scoffed at her and didn’t always do what she said, the battle was won.  Joan was wounded by an arrow in the battles just as the letter said that was written 8 days prior to the campaign.  King Charles was also crowned at Reims and the English left, as the letter said.  In a battle about a year later, Joan was captured by a follower of John of Luxemburg.  He then sold her to the English for a large amount of money.  They couldn’t kill her for winning against them, so they decided to try her as a witch.  The Bishop of Beauvais was an unscrupulous and ambitious man who was a tool of the English.  The examination trial seemed quite unfair but Joan continued to show her love of God.  She was finally found to be a witch and heretic and was burned.  Her ashes were thrown in to the Seine River.  Twenty four years later a revision of the trial was made.  The appellate court and the Pope found that injustice was made by the first examination and that it was declared illegal.    Her beatification cause was begun in 1869 and she was declared a Saint in 1920.  This very young holy woman listened to God no matter what it cost her.  She fought harder that most men could and never gave up, no matter how badly she was treated.

7.  St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton:  Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first native born American to become a Saint.  She was born just two years before the American Revolution to a wealthy New York City family.  The family was Episcopalian.  Elizabeth was a bright girl and prolific reader.  She especially found comfort in the reading the bible.  In 1794 she married a wealthy businessman, William Seton.   The first couple of years of their marriage were wonderful but when William’s  father died the couple had to take in William’s seven younger half brothers and sisters.  They also had to take over running the father’s import business.  William’s health started to fail as did his business.  He had to declare bankruptcy.  His health was deteriorating so bad that they felt that a move to Italy would help.  William had business friends there that they stayed with.

Unfortunately William died of tuberculosis while in Italy.  Elizabeth was very moved by the Catholic faith of the family that she lived with in Italy.  She found that their love of the Eucharist helped her to better understand the true presence of Jesus.  Also, since Elizabeth’s mother had died when she was young, their devotion to Mary helped satisfy her need for a mother.  Elizabeth converted to Catholicism and headed back to the United States.  Since she was a widow with many children to feed, she opened a school to help support them.  The first school was all Protestants and when the parents had heard that Elizabeth had converted to Catholicism, they withdrew their children from school.   Fortunately, Elizabeth met a priest who encouraged her to open up a school for Catholic children in Emmetsburg, Maryland.  This is seen as the beginning of Catholic education in the United States.  Shortly after opening the school, Elizabeth founded an order of Catholic women to help in educating poor children.  This was the first congregation of religious sisters to be formed in the United States.  They are known as the Sisters of Charity and have grown tremendously throughout the United States, Canada and the Philippines.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was a hard working woman who suffered from the deaths of many loved ones.  Her faith continued to allow her to make a tremendous change to the Catholic faith in the United States.  Pope Paul VI canonized Mother Seton on September 14, 1975, in a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square.  In his words, “Elizabeth Ann Seton is a saint. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is an American. All of us say this with special joy, and with the intention of honoring the land and the nation from which she sprang forth as the first flower in the calendar of the saints. Elizabeth Ann Seton was wholly American! Rejoice for your glorious daughter. Be proud of her. And know how to preserve her fruitful heritage.”  NOTE:  if you would like to hear about how Elizabeth Ann Seton personally changed my family go to:  http://deaconmarty.com/saint-elizabeth-ann-seton-and-how-she-personally-brought-a-miracle-to-my-family-by-deacon-marty-mcindoe/

8.  St. Marianne Cope:  St. Marianne was born in Germany in 1838 but spent most of her life in Hawaii ministering to lepers.  She is often known as Saint Marianne of Moloka’i.    One year after she was born her family moved to the United States.  She attended a Catholic parish school until the eighth grade when her father became an invalid and she had to leave school to go to work and help support her family.  When her father died, and her siblings became mature she quit her factory job and became a novitiate of the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis based in Syracuse, New York.  She became a teacher and later principal of a school that helped immigrant children.  She also helped in setting up the first two Catholic hospitals in central New York.  In 1883 she became the Superior General of her Congregation.   Shortly after, she received a letter from King Kalakaua of Hawaii asking for aid in treating leper patients who were isolated on the island of Moloka’i.  The King had already been declined by more than 50 other religious institutes.  St. Marianne went with six sisters arriving on November 8,1883.  She originally managed a hospital on the island of O’ahu, where victims of leprosy were sent for triage.  The next year, Mother Marianne helped establish the Malulani hospital on the island of Maui.  The government had appointed an administrator for the hospital on O’ahu when Mother Marianne left.  However, she heard news of his abuse and returned to O’ahu and demanded that the government fire him.  They did and put her in charge.  Mother Marianne continued to help the leper patients, including clergy who had contracted the disease.  She continued working, even when she was in a wheel chair.  Miraculously, the disease never came to her.

9.  St, Katherine Drexel:  St. Katherine is the second native born American to become a Saint.  She was born in 1858 to a wealthy banker.  Her mother died shortly after her birth but her father remarried and Katherine grew up in a home that was both financially and spiritually endowed.  She received a private education and travelled throughout the United States and Europe.  The family was very devout in their faith and an excellent example to Katherine.    Her father prayed 30 minutes each evening and on weekends they opened their home to help care for the poor.  After seeing her step-mother suffer with cancer for three years, Katherine’s life took a significant turn.  She developed a passionate love for God and for neighbor.  She especially felt called to help black and native Americans.

Katherine’s father passed away about a year after his wife’s death.  He had a substantial estate of over 15 million dollars  and he gave a considerable amount to charities and left the rest to his three daughters.  The daughters worked together to try to help Indian missions.  In 1887 they had an audience with Pope Leo XIII and asked that missionaries be sent to the Indians.  Pope Leo XIII looked directly at Katherine and asked her to be a missionary.  When she arrived home she met with her spiritual advisor and decided to give her life, and her money, to God as a nun and missionary.  She started a religious order called  “Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored” and spent the rest of her life serving blacks and native Americans.  She worked hard to found schools throughout the west to educate Native Americans.  She even founded Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic University in the United States for African-Americans.  She spent her fortune on the blacks and Native Americans.  She also gave fully of herself in helping them until she finally had a serious heart attack at the age of 77.  She lived until the age of 96 praying for her missions and writing.  By the time of her death, she had more than 500 Sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country and she established 50 missions for Native Americans in 16 different states.  This one woman changed the face of America for the better.

10.   Servant of God Dorothy Day:  Although she isn’t a Saint yet, she is on her way.  Dorothy Day is a great example of a woman who was a sinner, but turned toward being a Saint.  Her love of the poor, and her love of God make her an outstanding woman of God’s power.  Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan calls her “a Saint for our times”.   Dorothy Day started out being someone quite outside the Catholic faith.  She described herself as having an attraction to the radical life among  anarchists, socialists and communists.  She was arrested on many occasions and spent time in jail.  She drank heavily and had an abortion and had an illegitimate child.  This isn’t what usually makes up a Saints life.  However, all of these ups and downs helped her to think seriously about where she was headed.  The heartache that her abortion caused her helped her to become staunchly pro-life.   She was very moved by Francis Thompson’s “Hound of Heaven” and its description of the relentless pursuit of God towards man.  One day she found herself in the back of Saint Joseph’s Church on Sixth Avenue in New York City and found solace in watching the mass.

Dorothy had a daughter with a man that she lived with.  She said that the birth of her daughter connected her to the beauty of the Divine in a deeply personal way.  She wrote, “The final object of this love and gratitude is God”  She was moved to worship with others and even though the man she loved rejected religion she had her daughter baptized Catholic.  About six months later she too was baptized.   This ended her common law marriage.  About five years later, Peter Maurin, a French immigrant taught her about Catholic radicalism.  Together they founded the Catholic Worker Movement in 1933 and began publishing the Catholic Worker to promote their radical Catholic vision to oppose Communism.  They also opened a “House of Hospitality” to welcome everyone, especially the poor.  They focused on helping the poor.  Dorothy Day said, “The mystery of the poor is this:  That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for Him.  It is the only way of knowing and believing in our love”.   Dorothy Day was noted for seeing the beauty of God in everything and every person.   She truly was a Saint for our times.

11.  St. Faustina Kowalska:  St. Faustina was born in 1905 to a very poor but quite religious family.  She was the third of ten children.  When she was seven years old she attended an Eucharistic Adoration and immediately felt the call to become a nun.  When she finished her schooling at the age of 16 she wanted to enter a convent, but her parents wouldn’t allow her to.  Instead she cleaned houses to help support the family.  In 1924 she saw her first vision of Jesus who told her to go to Warsaw and join a convent.  She immediately packed her bags and left.  When in Warsaw she tried to enter several convents but was rejected because of her looks and her poverty.  Finally the Mother Superior of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy told her she could enter if she could pay for her own habit.  St. Faustina worked cleaning houses and finally had enough to pay for the habit.  She entered the convent in 1926 at 20 years old.  She worked primarily as a cook and traveled to several of the convents.  In 1931 she was visited by Jesus who told her that He was the “King of Divine Mercy”.  He asked her to become an apostle and secretary of God’s Mercy.  She said that she would.  Jesus also instructed her to have painted an image of her vision of him.  Since she didn’t paint she had to have a painter paint it based upon her description.  She was never fully happy with the way the painting came out.

Sister Faustina told her fellow sisters about her visions but they weren’t initially receptive to her.  She took some harassment because of them.   Sister Faustina told the priest spiritual advisor of her visions and calling.  He had her evaluated by a psychiatrist who found her in perfect mental health.  Eventually this priest saw the truth of her visions and the Divine Mercy apostolate and he was the first to preach about it at mass.  Fortunately Sister Faustina kept a diary that is still in existence today and makes for a great read.  Even though her health kept failing, she continued to do all that she could to spread the devotion to the Divine Mercy.  Unfortunately, due to several mistakes in translations and printings, some of her writings were seemed objectionable to the Church and the Divine Mercy apostolate was quieted for many years.  In 1965, Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla (later Pope John Paul II) took an interest in the Divine Mercy and opened up an investigation into Sister Faustina and her writings and apostolate.   The Church formally approved the apostolate and began procedures for her canonization.  The apostolate of Divine Mercy spread and Sr. Faustina was made a Saint in 2000 and a Feast day for the Divine Mercy became part of the Church calendar.  This poor and sick little woman was chosen by God to become an Apostle of the Divine Mercy.

12.  Sr. Gianna Beretta Molla:  St. Gianna was born in Italy in 1922.  She was the tenth of thirteen children in her family.  As a young child Gianna loved her faith and loved learning about it.  She saw the need for prayer and she enjoyed life for all that it was.  In 1942 Gianna began studying to be a medical doctor.  She was a great student and a great practitioner of her faith. In college she joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and worked with the elderly and the needy.  In 1949 she received her medical and surgical degree and within two years specialized in pediatrics at Milan Hospital.  She felt a very strong calling to mothers, babies, the elderly and the poor.  She became involved with Catholic Action and considered her practice of medicine a mission.  She wanted to join her brother, who was a priest, in Brazil by tending to the health of the poor women there.  Unfortunately, her health prevented her from doing so.   IN 1954, Gianna met Pietro Molla, an engineer who worked in her office.  They were married the following year.  Gianna considered marriage a precious gift and vocation.   She considered her marriage a gift from God and planned dedicated herself to “forming a truly Christian family.”  Gianna wrote to Pietro, “Love is the most beautiful sentiment that the Lord has put into the soul of men and women.” 

She gave birth to her first child, Pierluigi in 1956.  Her second child, Maria was born in 1957.  She had the third baby, Laura in 1959.  She loved being a mother and wife and worked hard to keep her family going along with her practice.  In 1961 Gianna became pregnant again with her fourth child.  Unfortunately near the end of her second month she had intense pain in her abdomen and they discovered that she had a tumor as well as the baby in her uterus.  The doctors recommended that she choose from three possibilities;   One, an abortion that would save her life and allow subsequent pregnancies, but take the life of the baby.  The second was a hysterectomy which would save her life but take the life of her baby and not allow any further pregnancies.  The third option was to take out the tumor which would save the life of her baby but might result in further complications for her.  She chose the third option which saved the baby’s life but put hers in danger.   She told the surgeons that her baby’s life must be saved at all costs, even if it cost her own life.    She said that her comfort was in having the baby and in her prayers and in putting her faith in to action.  They did what she asked.  She had the operation which removed the tumor but allowed the baby to continue to grow.  Gianna continued her pregnancy but with many complications.  Her faith gave her the strength to continue on as a mother and as a doctor.  Gianna told the doctors that they must save the life of her baby even if it meant she died.  She kept insisting, “save the baby”.  On April 21, 1962, Gianna Emanuela Molla was successfully delivered by Caesarean section.  One week later Gianna, the mother, died from septic peritonitis.

Gianna was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994, and officially canonized as a saint on May 16, 2004. Her husband and their children, including Gianna Emanuela, attended her canonization ceremony, making this the first time a husband witnessed his wife’s canonization.  Pope John Paul II said that Gianna was “a simple, but more than ever, significant messenger of divine love.”  The first pro-life Catholic health center in New York, the Gianna Center, was named after her.  In today’s world where abortion is rampant and often mothers have abortions because the timing is inconvenient, the story of Gianna and her love for life and for her children stands out as a beacon of light.

CONCLUSION:  God gave mankind a precious gift when he created us male and female, in His image.  Each sex brings its own flavor towards helping God in the building up of the Kingdom.  Too often the male has been seen as the strong sex, but looking back at how God has used women in the Scriptures and as Saints, we can’t help but to see how strong women are.  We are all called by God to help build up his Kingdom.  Let us answer that call with a resounding, “be it done to me according to thy will”.  Men and women work together in building God’s Kingdom.  After all, we are His children and brother and sister to each other.  There is so much work to do.  We must do it together and celebrate what God can accomplish through our strengths and our weaknesses.  With God all things are possible.

Part II – Powerful Women of the Christian Scriptures – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Community, Converts, Evangelism, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Jewish roots, Relationships, Scripture, Spirituality, Women

WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

This is the second part of my article on Women and the Power of God.  In the first part I looked at some of the women of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament).  Today we will look at some of the women of the Christian Scriptures (the New Testament).  Next week we will look at some women Saints.  God consistently uses women to show His power and to help bring about the Kingdom.

PART II – POWERFUL WOMEN OF THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES (NEW TESTAMENT)

MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS:  We start our New Testament list of women with the woman who made it all possible.  Because of her resounding YES, the second person of the Holy Trinity, The Word, became Jesus.  We must remember that Mary was just a young teenage girl when the angel appeared to her.  Try to imagine what it must have been like to be a young teenager, engaged to be married and have an angel come to her with the revelation that God was calling her to become the mother of His son.  She quickly pointed out that she did not know man and wondered how this could happen.  The angel told her that the Holy Spirit would come over her and she would be with child.  That would be scary for any woman, but Mary, because of her love of God and her trust in Him, said yes.  Think what it must have been like to travel to a foreign town and have to give birth in a cave with animals.  Imagine having the three Magi come to her bearing gifts and coming to see the King of Kings, her baby.  Her amazement continued with the Shepherds coming and describing their own visit by an angel announcing Glory to God in the Highest.  When she presented the baby Jesus in the Temple, Simeon said to her, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”   How those words must have cut in to her spirit.  Think about how Joseph told her that Herod was going to kill their baby and that they needed to flee to Egypt where she would spend a significant time away from her family and friends in a foreign nation.   Mary had to be a very strong woman to handle all of this and to do it so graciously.  Think of the strength that she had to have during Jesus’ ministry and especially at the time of his Passion.  Mary continually showed her strength and trust in God.  There is so much that could be said about her that I really don’t have the space here.  Mary is the Theotokos, the Mother of God.

ELIZABETH:  When Mary was pregnant with Jesus, she went to be with her elder cousin, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth was probably between 60 and 70 years old and was miraculously pregnant with John the Baptist.  Elizabeth was the wife of the priest, Zechariah and was a strong woman of faith.  Scripture tells us “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit”. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”  This statement of Elizabeth is filled with so much faith and such recognition of who Jesus was.  Elizabeth’s encounter with the pregnant Mary caused her to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  The baby in her womb, John the Baptist, leapt for joy.  Those same words were used in the Old Testament when David leapt and danced before the Ark of the Covenant.  Mary, pregnant with Jesus, is the new Ark of the Covenant and Elizabeth recognizes this immediately.  Elizabeth was a strong woman of faith.  She was also strong enough to protect her child, John the Baptist, from being killed by Herod’s soldiers when he ordered the slaughter of the innocent.

MARTHA AND MARY:  These two women and their brother Lazarus were close friends of Jesus.  Their names often come up in the scriptures.  Martha is seen as the working servant and Mary as the quiet listener.  They certainly each had their own personalities, but they seemed to put all that they had into following Jesus and working for the building of His Kingdom.    The important thing about their relationship to Jesus is that it seems to be on par with the relationship men would have with their rabbi.  Normally women would not be so close to the rabbi and wouldn’t be seen as important enough to “sit at their feet” in learning and also wouldn’t be seen as workers with him.   Jesus, in his relationship with Martha and Mary showed us that gender was not an issue to Him, even if it was to His culture. 

MARY MAGDALENE:  Mary Magdalene is often misunderstood in the scriptures, art and tradition.  Her name is so common that she is often confused with other Mary’s.   Unfortunately, in the Western world, she is also often seen as the repentant prostitute mentioned in the scriptures.  Truth of the matter is that in 1969 the Roman Church officially said the she was not that sinful prostitute.  Enough bible study and study of early Church writings showed that she wasn’t.  In 2016 Pope Francis gave her a feast day, June 22nd, ranking her with the male Apostles.  If you study the early writings it appears that she supported Jesus both financially and spiritually.  Eastern tradition has it that she went with Mary, the mother of Jesus to Ephesus to live and that she was considered an early leader in the Church.  Mary Magdalene was a strong disciple of Jesus right until the very end.  She was present at His crucifixion and was a witness of His empty tomb.  Whenever scripture mentions her with other women, her name is always first.  The Resurrected Jesus appeared to her at least twice.  Our modern study of scripture and early writings show that she was a powerful disciple and leader of the early Church.  Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican’s culture minister, said Mary Magdalene’s reputation was sullied by her depiction in art over the centuries.  He said, “Art history made her become a prostitute, which is something that is not present in the Gospels, It is important to find the real face of Mary Magdalene, who is a woman who represents the importance of the female aspect on the side of Christ.”   Mary was a strong leader and tremendous help to Jesus during His ministry.  She continued to be a strong help to His Church.

THE SYROPHOENICIAN WOMAN (MARK)/CANAANITE WOMAN (MATTHEW):  Matthew and Mark tell us of the Pagan woman who comes to Jesus requesting healing for her daughter.  The woman’s name is not given.  The incident occurs in Tyre (modern day Lebanon) which has a long history of being an enemy of Israel.  The woman is not a Jew, yet she comes to Jesus asking for help.  She more than asks for help, she screams for help over and over again.  Jesus seems to ignore her.   She pleads with Jesus who finally says that he was “sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”.   Matthew tells us that the woman throws herself at the feet of Jesus and pleads for his help.   Jesus tells her, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  The woman tells Jesus that “even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table”.  To this, Jesus replies to her, “O woman, your faith is great; let it be done as you have requested.”  Jesus emphasizes the word great.  At that moment the daughter is healed and Jesus tells the woman to go home to her daughter and to trust.  She does.  There are several things in this story that tell us of the strength and cunning of this woman that allows the power of Jesus to shine through.  First of all her persistence in trying to get Jesus to help is commendable.    Secondly her use of the word Lord and Son of David in addressing Jesus shows us that even though she was not a Jew, she knew about Jewish thought on the messiah.  The very fact that she went to Jesus, and was persistent shows us of the faith that she had.  When Jesus makes the comment about feeding the children and not the dogs, she didn’t show anger but was smart enough to come back with the line that even the dogs eat the scraps that drop from the table.  To this Jesus remarks about how great her faith was and he healed her daughter.  Lastly, when Jesus told her to go home in trust, she did exactly that.  She trusted that her petitions to Jesus were answered.  We all need to learn from this powerful, faithful, persistent, trusting woman.

LYDIA:   Lydia was an educated and wealthy woman from Thyatira (modern day Turkey).  She did not follow the numerous gods of that region but instead showed an interest in the one God that the Jewish people professed.  She was a business woman who sold rare dyes (particularly purple) and had her business centered in Philippi Greece.  There she met the apostle St. Paul who told her about Jesus.  She was the first person converted by Paul during his trip to Greece.  She was so convinced in her conversion that she immediately shared the good news with her family and they followed her in to being a convert to Christianity.   She opened the first Christian church in Greece in her large home.   Paul and Silas remained with her for several weeks training her in the faith.  Because of her business connections and trading in many areas she was responsible for the conversion of many Greeks.  Not only had she started the first Christian church in Greece, but she also helped to spread that faith to many areas.  God used this strong and successful business woman to help spread the faith.  We can’t help but to be thankful for the way that she turned all that she had made (and it was significant) to be used for spreading the Good News.

DAMARIS:  Damaris was an intellectual woman in the city of Athens.  When Paul went to Athens he spoke in the streets about Jesus and although this was scoffed at by many, some of the intellectual Greeks there found him quite interesting.  He was invited to speak to the Intellectual Council there.  One of the members present was a woman named Damaris who was intrigued by all that Paul taught about Jesus and after many discussions with Paul, she converted and helped to lead many people to Jesus.  She became a leader in the church in Athens.  God used this intellectually gifted woman to help build up his Church.

PHOEBE:  Phoebe was a successful business woman from Corinth.  Paul spent a considerable amount of time in Corinth setting up his Church.  Phoebe was an integral part of the work that he did there.  In a letter to the Romans Paul describes Phoebe as a servant leader of the Church there and a benefactor to the Church.  Just like Lydia, Phoebe used her significant resources to help the Church.  She also used her “connections” to help spread the Word.  Paul called her a saint and a leader in that church.

PRISCILLA:  Priscilla was a Gentile from the Roman aristocracy who married a Turkish Jew named Aquila.  They originally lived in Rome and helped Peter set up the Church there.  By profession they were tent makers.  In 51 AD they were expelled from Rome (for their Christian work) and moved to Corinth.  There they met Paul and worked with him in evangelizing Greece.  They were so important to Paul that he brought them both with him to help spread the Good News in Ephesus.   Even though Priscilla and Aquila worked together, Paul always mentions Priscilla first indicating her importance.  It seems that her role as an evangelist and a leader in the Church is something that Paul wished to emphasize.  Later they both returned to Rome and again helped build up the Church there.

CONCLUSION:   When we look at the women of the New Testament we can’t help but to see that they stood out as being equal to men as evangelizers and leaders in the early Church.  What makes this so extraordinary is that in the culture of the time, women could hardly do anything in public.  Their place was in the home.  Jesus and the early Church quickly showed the fallacy of this.  These women were strong leaders and servants that helped to spread the Good News.

WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Community, Creation, Discernment, Family, Holiness, Jewish roots, Marriage, Penance and Reconciliation, Prayer, Pro-Life, Relationships, Scripture, Sin, Spirituality

WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

In Genesis we read, “When God created human beings, he made them in the likeness of God; he created them male and female.”  Even though we call God “Our Father”, and Jesus was a man, I believe that the true likeness of God cannot be seen by just looking at the masculine; nor can it be seen by just looking at the feminine.  To truly see the image of God we must look at both the masculine nature and the feminine nature of humankind.  Throughout the scriptures there are plenty of examples of both but there does seem to be preponderance of the masculine.  Too often the women of scripture are in the background and don’t get the attention that they deserve.  This is probably due to social and cultural partiality.  I want to bring to the reader’s attention some of the women of Scripture that show God’s power at work.  Since there are so many, this article will be in three parts.  One, the women of the Hebrew Scriptures; Two, the women of the New Testament; and Three, women Saints of the Church.

PART I – POWERFUL WOMEN OF THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES

EVE:   In the creation account, Eve is seen as the mother of the living.  She is also seen as Adam’s companion and helper.  In Christian traditions, Eve is the one who led Adam astray by sharing the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge with him.  When God confronts Adam about his disobedience he blames not only Eve for his transgression but also blames God for giving him Eve.  Eve in turn blames the serpent for tempting her to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.  While it is easy to think of Eve as being weak because of this, we must remember that Eve had to be a strong woman.  She, according to the Genesis account, was the first mother.  She had no one else to be an example of what motherhood was all about.  She had no mother to show her how to take care of her children.  She had no other women friends to help support her.  In the Genesis account she was the only mother.  It is in her that humanity receives life.  The Church traditionally recognizes Eve as a Saint, along with Adam and celebrates their feast day on December 24th. 

SARAH:  Sarah was the wife of Abraham and is the first woman mentioned in scripture after Eve.  She had to be a strong woman to accompany Abraham on his long journey to the Promised Land.  She also was a woman with a good sense of humor.  When God told Abraham that he and Sarah would bare a son, even though they were a century old, Sarah laughed.  However, she also was a woman of faith because she took God at His Word.  The letter to the Hebrews tells us that, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”  Can you imagine how much strength she would have to have to bring up children at her age?

SHIPHRAH AND PUAH:  These two women were Hebrew mid-wives in Egypt who were ordered by Pharaoh to kill the newborn Jewish boys when they were born.  Pharaoh felt that the Jewish people were getting too strong and too powerful so he ordered the midwives to kill the baby boys.   Shiphrah and Puah knew the sanctity of life and did not do this and lied to Pharaoh about it.  They knew that their stand on life could cost them their own life, but they were strong enough to follow their conscience.  They are a great example to us of people who hold life sacred and of people who can stand up to an evil government through civil disobedience.  Because of them, many Jewish lives were saved, including Moses.

SOBEKNEFRU:  Was the daughter of the Pharaoh who had ordered the Hebrew children killed.  She is the woman who found the baby Moses floating in a basket.  She had the strength and courage to go against her father and raise Moses as her own child.  Fortunately, she used Moses real mother, Jochebed as the nursemaid.  Jochebed must have had a lot of strength and love for her son Moses to disobey Pharaoh and keep her son alive.

MAHLAH, NOAH, HOGLAH, MILCAH AND TIRZAH – THE FIVE DAUGHTER OF ZELOPHEHAD:  Zelophehad was a descendent of Joseph who left Egypt with Moses and died in the wilderness.  He had five daughters and no sons.  Under the Jewish law only sons could inherit the property of their father.  The five daughters of Zelophehad went to Moses and Eleazar and petitioned them to change the law.  Through divine intervention, God told Moses to give the land to the daughters and to change the law so that if there were no male offspring, the estate could go to the daughters who would rightfully own it.  Because of the vision and persistence of these women, Jewish law was changed forever.  They had the strength to stand up against the established leaders and fight for equality.  God honored their fight.

TAMAR:  Tamar was married to Judah’s son, Er.  Er was a wicked man and died and Judah asked his other son Onan to provide offspring for Tamar (a Levirate union) so that the family line would continue.  Onan slept with Tamar but because he didn’t want her to have a child, he kept “spilling his seed on the ground”.   Onan was more interested in a larger share of Judah’s estate, than continuing the Family line.  Tamar knew that it was necessary for the family line to continue so she disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law, Judah.  He did not recognize her.  From that Union she brought forth twin sons to continue the family line.  The one son, Perez is an ancestor of Jesus.   Even though Tamar’s action seems odd in today’s world, Tamar received a great deal of respect from Judah for the bold thing that she did.  Not only was she strong and bold to do this, but she was very bright to come up with a way to prove that Judah was the father (read Genesis 38).  Because of her strength and cunning, the Davidic line continued on.

RAHAB:  Rahab, who is listed in the genealogy of Jesus, is a most unlikely person to be an ancestor.  First of all, she was not a Jew but was a pagan Canaanite.  Secondly, she was a prostitute.  Rahab lived in the city of Jericho and when the Jewish people were ready to attack that city Joshua sent in some spies.  Rahab, was quite intelligent, perceptive and well informed.  She recognized the two Jewish spies and told them that she had heard of their God and how He had set His people free from the Egyptians.  She told the spies that all of the Canaanites were fearful of the Jews and their God.  She even spoke a phrase of faith by saying, “For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below”.  She told the spies that if they could spare her and her family, she would help them.  Rahab went against her king and and her country and religion and she hid the spies in her home.  Because of this, they were able to obtain tactical information.  The Jews conquered the city and spared Rahab and her family.  Rahab later married a Jewish man and continued the Davidic line to Jesus.

RUTH:  During the time of the Judges rule of Israel, there was a famine in the land.  Elimelech and his wife Naomi left their home in Bethlehem with their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion to go to the land of the Moabites and escape the famine.  They were there several years and Elimelech died.  Both sons had married Moabite women.  Mahlon married Ruth and Chilion married Orpha.  After about ten years both sons died and Naomi decided to go back to her homeland.  She told both widowed daughters in laws to return to their families and to remarry.  Orpha did return to her family, but Ruth decided to stay with Naomi and go back to Bethlehem.   Ruth said to Naomi, “For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”  Ruth went with Naomi to Bethlehem.  It must have been very difficult for Ruth to leave her homeland and her family and to travel to an unknown land.  Her relationship to Naomi and the witness of faith that Naomi provided gave her the strength to do go to Bethlehem.  There Ruth supported herself and Naomi by gleaning in the fields of a man named Boaz.  Boaz had heard of Ruth’s loyalty to her mother in law and saw her great kindness.  He also saw her as a hard working woman.  Boaz was a close relative of Naomi’s deceased husband Elimelech.  He bought the land that Elimelech had owned and married Naomi.  Together they had a son named Obed and a grandson named Jesse who would be the father of King David.   

HULDAH:  Most of the time when we think of Prophets, we think that they are all men.  In the book of Kings, there is one female Prophet named who was most important to the Jewish heritage.  She was one of seven women prophets (Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail and Esther) mentioned in scripture.  The scriptures tell us that Hidlah was a prophet who the priests and royal officials would often consult.  She could tell them of their fates and the fates of surrounding nations.  She spoke stern commands to the leaders and was seen as someone who could determine if writings were from God or not.  When they were rebuilding Solomon’s temple, a script was found and brought to Huldah to determine if it was God’s Word.  Huldah declared that it was God’s Word and that the temple and people would suffer because they had failed to follow it.  She told King Josiah that because of his repentance he would be spared.  Her prophecies about destruction came true.  Huldah was a woman who could stand up to anyone, commoner or king.  She was well respected for her gifts of discernment and was a woman who helped turn the people back to God through repentance. 

We can see that God chose these women, and many more besides, to help continue the Line of David and to help bring people to Him.  Even in the Middle East several thousand years ago, when women were seen as subservient to men, God used their strength and their cunning and their faith to help build his Kingdom.    This concludes Part I on the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament).  In a few days we will take a look at Part II, Women of the New Testament.

Mary, Our Queen Mother – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Death and Dying, Healing, Holiness, Jewish roots, Miracles, Relationships, Saints, Scripture


Mary, Our Queen Mother – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

On August 22nd, the eighth day after the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Church celebrates the feast of the Queenship of Mary.  From the earliest days of the Church, these two events were seen as linked together.  When Mary was given the special gift of being assumed bodily in to heaven, it was to take her place as Queen of Heaven.  For us today, in a world where Kings and Queens are part of fairy tales or mostly exist for ceremonial purposes, it is hard for us to understand why the Church would recognize Mary as the Queen of Heaven.  In order to understand it better, we must look back in to our Jewish roots, scriptures and the early Church fathers.

Mary exists as Queen only because Jesus exists as “King of the Jews”.  The first time we hear Jesus referred to as King is in the Gospel of St. Matthew in his nativity accounts.  St. Matthew writes with a great knowledge of Judaism and its history.  His nativity account is flowing with references to Jesus as King of the Jews as related to the Davidic Kingdom.  He has the Magi, the eastern kings, come and worship the new King of Kings.  This is set in David’s city, Bethlehem.   It is the Magi who kneel down before the baby Jesus, and before Mary and call Jesus the King of the Jews.  Joseph isn’t even mentioned when the Magi adore the new babe.  The emphasis is placed upon Jesus and Mary.  To understand this we need to look at the Jewish role of the Queen Mother.

The Jews, like most of the other people of the Middle East, gave special emphasis to the mother of the King as the Queen Mother.  This was quite practical as most of the Kings had numerous wives, but only one mother.   Scripture tells us that King Solomon, David’s son, had 700 wives and 300 concubines.  In Jewish history the Queen Mother had her throne right next to her son, the King.  She helped him in caring for the Kingdom.   She was always especially known as an advocate for her people.  She very often interceded for her people.  In 1 Kings 2: 13-21 we hear the story of Adonijah who comes to see the Queen Mother saying, “I have something to ask to you.” She replied, “Say it.” So he said, “There is one favor I would ask of you. Do not refuse me.” And she said, “Speak on.” He said, “Please ask King Solomon, who will not refuse you, to give me Abishag the Shunamite for my wife.” “Very well,” replied Bathsheba, “I will speak to the king for you.”   Then Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king’s mother, who sat at his right. “There is one small favor l would ask of you,” she said. “Do not refuse me.” “Ask it, my mother,” the king said to her, “for I will not refuse you.   So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunamite be given to your brother Adonijah for his wife.”  Of course, the King did what his mother asked.  This was the common practice for Queen Mothers; to sit on a throne next to their son and bring him intercessions.   This is what our Queen Mother, Mary does today for us.

There is no doubt that the Kingship of Jesus differs from the Kingship of David or Solomon or any of the Jewish Kings.  His Kingship is founded on his death and resurrection.  It is at the cross that we read “Jesus, the Nazorean, King of the Jews.  It was on the cross, with Mary at his foot, that Jesus shows us that His Kingdom is based upon Mercy and pure Love.  The Queenship of Mary follows this same example, Love and Mercy.  Now Jesus is enthroned in Heaven with Mary, the Queen Mother, at His side.  Together they are dispensers of God’s Mercy and Love.  Mary, the Immaculate daughter of the Father and spouse of the Holy Spirit sits with her son and her God, Jesus.

The book of Revelation, Chapter 12 verses 1 though 5 gives us an apocalyptic vision of Mary as Queen of Heaven.  It says, “And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered. And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his head seven diadems: And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne.”  I find it interesting that she has a crown with twelve stars.  Those twelve stars remind us of both the twelve tribes of Israel who relied upon the Queen Mother as their intercessor before the King and of the twelve Apostles who regarded her as the mother of Jesus and their mother.  The red dragon reminds us of how Mary, our mother and our Queen, has always resisted the attacks of the devil and is the promise of the New Eve who stamps her foot upon the devil’s head.

When we see Mary as the Queen of Heaven we honor her place in God’s plan as being the mother of His son Jesus, who is fully human and fully God.  Her resounding YES and her flesh gave flesh to the Word.   She was the new Ark of the Covenant in which the very presence of God resided.   It was because of her that our Lord and Savior were brought in to this world.  She is, most definitely, BLESSED among women.

St. Pope John Paul II in his letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, tells us, “Christ was raised in glory to the right hand of the Father, while Mary herself would be raised to that same glory in the Assumption,  enjoying beforehand, by a unique privilege, the destiny reserved for all the just at the resurrection of the dead. Crowned in glory – as she appears in the last glorious mystery – Mary shines forth as Queen of the Angels and Saints, the anticipation and the supreme realization of the eschatological state of the Church.”

Hopefully, some day we too, like Mary, will receive our glorified bodies and worship God and honor Mary in heaven.  Until we do, we can honor her as Queen of Heaven and bring before her our cares and concerns so that she can intercede for us before her son, Jesus, the King of Kings.

THE TABLE by Deacon Dennis Lambert – a review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Book Review, Church, Early Church Fathers, Eucharist, Family, Healing, Jewish roots, Marriage, Miracles, Relationships, Sacraments, Saints, The Holy Land

I actually purchased this book about a year and a half ago but due to selling one home, putting things in storage for 17 months and then moving in to a new home, I “lost” it and recently found it and read it.   What an interesting book!  I am so glad that I finally found it.  I believe you will be glad too when you find one and read it.

THE TABLE is a book that jumps back and forth from biblical times to modern times.  The link is a very special table that the grandfather of Jesus made as a result of a miracle.   It seems that blessings and miracles and peace seem to follow the table and those who own it.  I really don’t want to give you a complete synopsis of the book because there are a number of surprises in the book that I don’t want to spoil for you.  Suffice it to say that the table that Jesus’ grandfather made was not only a miracle in its time, but continued to bring miracles to people who struggled with everyday life.

I found the book to be difficult to put down.  It was intriguing on so many levels.  Deacon Lambert is a great writer who knows how to weave a great story.  The characters, whether they are from the biblical time, or from the modern time, are interesting, very human, and very likeable.  I especially liked how he portrayed Jesus and His family.  Some of the writing made me feel like I was reading an expanded Gospel that was written to fill in some of the details left out by the scriptures.  He did the same in writing about the early Church figures.  When reading about the biblical times, you actually felt like you were there.

The figures in the modern time were wonderful.  They were people that you could most definitely relate to.   Their fears and hurts and successes were ones that we too could have experienced.  In the midst of both tragedy and elation, the characters were so very human and believable.  I found myself rooting for them at the various parts of their life and tearing up for them at their difficult times.  This book certainly brought out many emotions for me.

This historical fiction provides not only great entertainment, but also serves as a way to grow spiritually.  It is a book for all people, but most certainly will speak very loudly to Catholics with its description of the mass and sacraments.  You cannot help but to read this book and see God at work in the lives of the characters and transfer that in to your own life.  God is very much alive and at work in this book.  I see it as a great gift for those who have fallen away from the faith.  They will find the book so interesting that they can’t put it down, and at the same time have their own spirituality awakened.  I believe that this is the first published book by Deacon Dennis Lambert.  I am anxiously awaiting another one by him.

One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler – review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

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One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler – review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

When I heard that Jennifer Fulwiler had published a new book, I knew I had to have it and read it as soon as I could.  A few years ago, I read her book,” Something Other Than God”, and absolutely loved it.  She is a gifted writer and her second book continues to show how gifted she is.  I found it hard to put down, funny and thought provoking.  Her subtitle to this new book is The Rollicking Tale of Personal Passions, Family Chaos, and Saying Yes to Them Both.  The subtitle is a great description of her book.  It tells the story of her raising six children while trying to write a book.

For those of you who do not know Jennifer’s story, she is a former atheist whom God touched and led in to the Catholic Church.  You should read her first book “Something Other Than God” to find out this great story.  Jennifer is also a daily radio host on Sirius XM channel 129 as well as a noted speaker and columnist.  She also describes herself as “Mother of six with zero of the skills needed to manage a home”.  I would add that she is a gifted writer with an ability to describe life situations in ways that can only make you laugh, and sometimes cause you to shed a tear.

The beauty of her new book is that not only is it funny and interesting and hard to put down; it shows us all how it is possible to accomplish a sense of personal accomplishment in the midst of being a good, albeit struggling, parent.  I love what the book does for both men and women who find it hard to balance family life and work life.  It shows how you can incorporate both into personal satisfaction.  This book will definitely challenge any man or woman who puts work ahead of family.  However, it does show that a true balance can be made that will be very satisfying.

To be perfectly truthful, when I first started reading this book I thought it was mainly a book for women.  I even said that to my wife and told her that I knew she would enjoy it.  However, after reading the book for a while, I saw that it is for men and women.  Jennifer describes how her lifelong desire to write a book seemed to interfere with her sense that God was calling her to have a large family.  On many occasions her husband Joe was the needed instrument to help her learn to be able to do both.  At the same time Joe had to learn how to balance his work (and advancements) to fit in to their family life.  Personally I see Joe as a real hero in this story.  There is no doubt that Jennifer is the one who had to struggle and work so hard, but it was with Joe at her side and often encouraging her.  This book does so much to show what marriage and family life is supposed to be, even the messy parts of it.

The book also shows how Jennifer discovers that family is not just her and Joe and their six children, but extends to grandparents, great grandparents  and friends and neighbors and even to young girls ringing the door bell and running away (usually at the most inopportune times).  Jennifer learns that she can’t do everything by herself and it is then that family life begins to grow.  She learns how to involve her children in her writing career.  She also learns how to involve other family and friends in what she does.  In doing this she discovers that having a large family is a lot more than giving birth to many children.

I love how Jennifer is able to make us all laugh at some of the disheveled things that life throws at us.  I also like the way her faith comes forth without being preachy.  She shows herself in her weaknesses and in her strengths and we can’t help but to love her in both.  In an age where many couples have no children, or only one or two, this books delights us with the interactions of six children and the fulfillment they bring to their parents.  Jennifer is often confronted by friends and strangers for having such a large family.  I find this so sad.  Large families are a real gift that society doesn’t seem to appreciate any more.  Jennifer and Joe wanted a large family and God gave them one.  Jennifer and Joe use Natural Family Planning and Jennifer does a great job sharing how NFP has been a positive influence on their marriage.  This book certainly shows us how two people, working together in the gift of marriage, can find both personal fulfillment and family fulfillment.   There is no doubt that this is a book that I would highly recommend reading.  It is printed by Zondervan.  I bought my copy on Amazon Prime.

POWER – by A.J. Avila

Books, Church, Holiness, Holy Orders, Prayer, Relationships, Saints, Service, Spirituality

Recently my husband came home from a Friends of the Library sale. My city library sells donated books every few months, and you pay only a measly two dollars for whatever you can stuff inside a paper grocery bag. The money goes toward buying new books for the library, essential when our city has slashed the new book budget to zero.

In my husband’s bag was a book he thought I might like because it’s about Catholicism. On the back cover are quotations from many prominent Catholics—that is, Catholics who are prominent in a worldly sort of way, such as politicians and actors. One quotation struck me immediately. I’m not going to mention who said it, but it read “When my mom asked if I wanted to be a nun, I said I’d rather be a priest . . . The nuns were always wonderful, but the power was with the priest.”

When I see something like that, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I did, however, read it aloud to my husband, and he burst into laughter. So maybe mirth is the more appropriate response to something so ridiculous.

If you think priests have a lot of power, read that quote to your local parish priest and see what his reaction is.

I guess the woman who said it had no idea what she was talking about. Does she not know why Catholic priests wear Roman collars? It’s because the collar is a symbol of slavery.

That’s right: Roman Catholic priests are slaves.

That is, they are slaves of Christ.

Ironically, that is where power—in a supernatural sense—resides, but since this woman is a politician, she seemed to be talking about worldly power.

If I had the opportunity, I would ask her who she thought had more worldly power: her parish priest or Mother Teresa. After all, Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize. She addressed the United Nations.

When’s the last time your parish priest did that?

Besides, worldly power means nothing to God, except in how it is wielded.

True power comes from conforming to God’s will, and you don’t have to be a priest to do that.

I got into this a bit in my novel Nearer the Dawn. A man who has turned away from his atheism to make an act of faith lies prone in adoration on a mountainside when he encounters God:

Here, with his nose in the dirt, he had never felt so elevated. Before, he had considered the walls of a church those of a prison or insane asylum. Now he realized the barriers he had seen were of his own construction, designed to keep him banished outside rather than let him in. At last here was Everything he had been searching for, Everything he was created for, the fulfillment of his hunger. This was not only the destination but the road that led everywhere, the key that opened all treasures. Here was the ecstasy that eternally satisfied that longing desire not only to be loved but to love fully and completely. And here was true freedom, for only by binding himself with the One he was free to be transformed, crowned with glory. No wonder he had never been able to do it alone. Relying on his own capabilities was like trying to operate on a single ohm, but now he was plugged into a Power Source mightier than all the suns of the universe, for here life overflowed with more abundance than he had thought possible.

Being a priest is wonderful, but it is God who crowns us with power and glory. The power, in other words, comes by being a saint.

The Gift of Community – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Church, Communication, Community, Family, Holy Spirit, Life in the Spirit, Marriage, Prayer, Relationships, Spirituality


Our Lord knew that life could be difficult at times, as well as joyful.  We were created not to be a person just to ourselves, but rather a person who reacts with other people.  This way we have someone to share the joyful moments with as well as someone to help us in the difficult moments.  In our relationships with others we often form communities.   These communities can be a source of sharing great joy as well as a support for times when life is difficult.  Communities can take on different forms.  I recently was contemplating the gift of community at a time when very good friends (and members of one of our communities) lost their daughter.  It was most difficult for our friends, but the gift of community really came forth.  I would like to share with you some of the ways that I have experienced this community in action.  My hope is this will help you to better appreciate the gift of community in your own life.  The old adage; “it takes a village to raise a child” is an old African proverb but certainly relates to all of us today.  I would change that a little to say, “it takes a community to raise and support a Christian”.

My first experience of Christian Community happened in 1972.  My wife and I started going to a Catholic Charismatic prayer meeting.  That experience brought me to know Jesus and His Church and the gift of community.   The prayer group was one where I experienced joy, teachings and support.  We met every week and I looked forward to going every time.  We prayed together in the church and often had a teaching there; afterwards many of us would go over to the diner across the street just to socialize.  Because of my relationship with that prayer group, and with Jesus, my marriage became what it really needed to be.  My wife and I grew in our relationship as we grew in our relationship in the prayer group and our relationship to Jesus and His Church.  My wife and I had difficulties having children and this weighed heavily upon our relationship.  The prayer group was a great support to us and I believe it was through the prayers there that we received the miracle of our daughter.  The prayer group always shared with us our pains as well as our joys.  It was quite a gift.

We continued in weekly prayer groups until the early 1980’s when we were invited to join a prayer community called “My people”.  This continued in the same way as the prayer meeting, but with closer ties of friendship.  We prayed together and we did things to have fun together.  The friends that I mentioned earlier are part of that community.  All of us watched our children grow in to adults and then watched as our children had children.  It was a source of great joy.  At the same time there were many difficulties, from run-away teenagers to car accidents to deaths of spouses to all sorts of things that happened.  However, we were able to experience it all together.  We were able to lend support to each other.  Over and over again, God used this community to bring His loving support to us.

Over the 40 years that this community has existed, some members retired and moved away (down south).  Every year we have a community retreat and most of those who moved away come up for that retreat here on Long Island.   In some ways it was as if they never left.  We were, and are, all one community.  Those of us who still live on Long Island still meet regularly for our community prayer meeting.  We also maintain other social ties to one another.  Last month, when we heard about the sudden death of one couple’s 45 year old daughter, we were devastated.  However, the community pulled together to support them in so many ways.  Even those who moved away came up from the south to be there for the funeral.  We stayed with the family at the funeral home the whole time they were there.  We were, literally, “there for them”.  I could tell how much it was a support to them. 

I also noticed at the funeral another example of community.  Our friend’s daughter was an EMT for a local ambulance company.  They too came out in great numbers each day of the funeral.  They also provided a funeral dinner for everyone after the last service.  Their support was encouraging to all of us and especially to the parents.  We saw that many parishioners from our friend’s parish came too.  The funeral mass was quite full.  After the mass, the hearse drove past the hospital where our friend’s daughter worked in the Emergency Room.  It seemed that every worker in the hospital came outside to give her their last goodbye.  It was amazing to see how such a tragic loss of a young woman could also show so much good from the people around her.  Community is quite a gift that God uses to support us.

We can find community in our families, in our local parish, in our work, in our neighborhood, in our volunteer agencies…….in so many different places.  Sometimes we need to work on building these communities into something that God can use to help us all experience life with its joys and with its sorrows.  Anything that is good, takes a little work. 

I would ask you to look around at the communities that you are part of and give thanks to God for them.  Perhaps you can find ways to grow closer to each other in these communities.  Perhaps you can see in your family and in your co-workers ways to grow in community.  Church groups can be a fantastic way to experience community.  My wife and I, besides belonging to the “My People” charismatic community also belong to the Teams of Our Lady group in our parish.  We cherish those monthly meetings with them and the gift of community there.  I cannot picture life without these communities.  Proverbs 27:17 tells us, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”.   We really need community to bring out the best in us.  Hebrews 10;25-25 tells us, “ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. “

When we are in community we can experience better what it means to be “the people of God”.   1 Peter 2:9-19 tells us, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy”.   Community is also where we all can experience being the “body of Christ”.   Matthew 18:20 tells us that, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”  I Corinthians 12:12-13 says, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink”.

My friends, let us all drink of the one Spirit and use all the gifts that God gives to us, especially the gift of community.

The Great Chasm! America’s Growing Political Violence and Divide – by Alex Skelley

Anxiety and Worry, Communication, Ethics, Family, Godly Patriotism, Morality, Peace and Justice, Relationships, Service, Trust

Many American’s are tired of the banter (and worse) between the two major political parties.  Worse yet, there is a sense that many of our youth really do not care.  I normally stay away from political writings but this one gives me hope from today’s youth.  It is written by a seventeen year old (who happens to be my grandson) but I think that it fits in so well with what we as Catholics believe about being good citizens and standing up for goodness and being against violence.  Check it out by clicking here which will lead you right to my grandson’s High School newspaper article:  The Great Chasm

Rejection – by A.J. Avila

Anxiety and Worry, Communication, Family, Forgiveness, Relationships, Spirituality

We’ve all been on the receiving end of a gift we don’t want. If you can’t stand country music, ripping off the Christmas wrap and finding a CD entitled Country’s Greatest Hits isn’t going to go over very well. Nor is a DVD of a movie you can’t stand, nor a food that contains an ingredient you’re allergic to.
In my life I’ve gotten some pretty bad gifts (see ” Weird Gifts “)
So, when I get a gift like that, I figure there are four options:
1. Trash
2. Donation to charity
3. Sell on eBay
4. Re-gift to someone who will like it
As long as I’m sure the giver won’t find out about it, any of the above can be done without hurting that person’s feelings. So imagine my surprise to discover a different kind of option:
5. Give it back to the person who gave it to you—and tell her to give it to someone else.
Well, that happened to me during Eucharistic Adoration. One of the women of my parish brought back two gifts I had bestowed on her. Now, these weren’t just a couple of things I had picked up at a store. They were items I had created myself.
She’d had them for over a year, but I guess she didn’t want them anymore. I could, she said, give them to someone else.
Uh . . . that’s going to be a bit difficult when one of them—at the woman’s request—was personalized with her first and last names.
Oh, believe me, this wasn’t a case of forgetting who had given them to her. She included a thank-you note addressed to me. I’m not going to say what the gifts were, but I had put hours upon hours of care (and—metaphorically speaking—blood, sweat, and tears) into them. It had been like giving away a bit of my very being.
Sitting there, holding them in my hands, I felt like she had spat in my face. Or, worse, slapped my face.
Okay, I get that not everything I give someone is going to be that person’s cup of tea. But why not go with options 1-4 instead? Why bring these back to the one who gave them to her? Just how did she expect me to react to the message that she was rejecting my gifts? Was this supposed to make me happy?
Anyway, I sat there at Eucharistic Adoration, mostly gazing up at Christ in the Host or at the large crucifix behind the altar. It occurred to me that this must be something Jesus goes through every day—giving the immeasurably greater gift of salvation that He put His time, blood, sweat, and tears into—only to have it thrown back in His face.
I admit I wasn’t looking for an opportunity to be more Christ-like that day, but I guess I got one anyway. Lord, please help me to be more like You in every way.
Even when it hurts.
Especially when it hurts.

A Veteran’s Day Reflection – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Church, Death and Dying, Godly Patriotism, Holy Orders, Prayer, Relationships, Trust

Even though we, as Catholics, are called to seek peace in all things, I believe it is important for us to reflect and celebrate our Veterans. We must thank them for their service and thank them for the freedom that we, and so many other people in the world, enjoy. Many of our soldiers are good Christians who often have been called to die for others. Jesus says that there is no greater gift than that. If you search our listing of Catholic Saints, over five hundred of them were soldiers, including the Peace loving St. Francis of Assisi.
Veteran’s Day, November 11th, was first known as Armistice Day because it remembered the Day that WWI ended and it remembered all the soldiers who gave so much in that war. In 1954 the name was changed to Veteran’s Day so that it would remember all the soldiers of all the wars. War is an absolutely terrible thing, but unfortunately it happens too often. With all of the evil in the world, there must be some people who will fight to keep freedom going. We in the United States of America should be very proud of our veterans and all that they have accomplished. We should pray for them. In honor of Veteran’s Day I would like to share with you a poem that tugs on my heart. I am a Vietnam Era veteran (though I was never in combat, just support) and this poem is written by a Vietnam veteran who was involved in heavy fighting. He is now a Catholic Priest and is pastor of a parish adjacent to mine.
Msgr. Charles Fink went in to the U.S. Army right after college and after training was sent to Vietnam where he was a rifleman and often a point man (most dangerous position). He was in Vietnam for one year and saw a considerable amount of battle. He lost many of his fellow infantrymen. He himself was wounded. His time in Vietnam helped him discern his calling to the Priesthood. He went in to the seminary after Vietnam and after being there for a while a nun came to talk. She talked about the Vietnam War and said things about soldiers in the war that Fr. Fink found upsetting. He said that she said things that were simply untrue and basically reflected what much in society thought at the time. He was so angered by her talk and her untruths that he went up to his room and wrote a poem entitled, “Bury me with soldiers”. In honor of all veterans from all the wars, I want to share that poem with you (permission given to me by Msgr. Fink).

BURY ME WITH SOLDIERS

I’ve played a lot of roles in life;
I’ve met a lot of men.
I’ve done some things I’d like to think
I wouldn’t do again

And though I’m young, I’m old enough
To know someday I’ll die.
And think about what lies beyond, And
Besides whom I would lie.

Perhaps it doesn’t matter much;
Still if I had my choice,
I’d want a grave amongst soldiers when
At last death quells my voice

I’m sick of the hypocrisy
Of lectures by the wise
I’ll take the man with all his flaws
Who goes, though scared, and dies.

The troops I know were commonplace;
They didn’t want the war
They fought because their fathers and
Their father’s fathers had before.

They cursed and killed and wept –
God knows they’re easy to deride –
But bury me with men like these;
They faced the guns and died.

It’s funny when you think of it,
The way we got along.
We’d come from different worlds
To live in one, where no one belongs

I didn’t even like them all and,
I’m sure they’d all agree.
Yet, I would give my life for them,
I hope. Some would for me.

So bury me with soldiers, please
Though much maligned they be
Yes, bury me with soldiers, for
I miss their company.

We will not soon see their like again
We’ve had our fill of war.
But, bury me with men like them
Till someone else does more!                                                       ©Copyright by Rev. Charles R. Fink

Please remember to thank our Veterans for their service and pray for them. So many veterans today suffer so much from what they have experienced. They need our love and our prayers.

An Infallible Pope—for Fallible Christians by Matt Nelson

Apologetics, Church, Early Church Fathers, Holy Orders, Holy Spirit, Relationships, Saints, Scripture, Spirituality

There are few dogmas of the Catholic Church that have appeared more scandalous to non-Catholic believers than papal infallibility. Consider, for example, this reflection from Protestant apologist Matt Slick in one of his critical pieces on the subject:
I can’t help but wonder what new revelations and infallible interpretations will arise within the Roman Catholic Church. Will the next six million years produce the complete deification of Mary? Will Mary become the creator of the universe in Roman Catholic lore? Or perhaps the pope might be elevated to a celestial level here on earth (Infallibility, Fallibility, and the Roman Catholic Church).
As any decently catechized Catholic will know, Slick can rest assured that neither Mary nor the pope will ever be the subjects of deification by the Catholic Church; not in the next sixty years, not in the next 600 billion years. Not ever. Indeed, papal infallibility exists to prevent such heresies. It is also fitting given the primary of the pope in the Church.
Papal Primacy
In St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus gives Peter alone “the keys to the kingdom of heaven” and the power to “bind and loose” (Matt. 16:16-20). Peter’s unique authority is powerfully exemplified in the Acts of the Apostles, at the Council of Jerusalem, when Peter made a definitive ruling regarding circumcision “and all the assembly kept silence” (Acts 15:12).
As the chief “overseer” of the Church, Peter—and his successors—was to maintain doctrinal purity, as well as doctrinal unity, in the Church. The eminent Protestant scholar James D.G. Dunn affirms this unitive role:
It is Peter who becomes the focal point of unity for the whole Church . . . he became the most hopeful symbol of unity for that growing Christianity which more and more came to think of itself as the Church Catholic” (Unity and Diversity in the New Testament, 386).
Writing in the second century, St. Irenaeus of Lyons gives important testimony to the primacy of the pope. Dealing with the Gnostic heretics in the second century, he asserted that the beliefs of every local Christian church must be congruent, not just with apostolic tradition, but with the teachings of every other Christian church. Why? Because the Church is essentially catholic. The primary way, wrote the ancient bishop of Lyons, that Christ ensures the unity of his Church is through the Petrine office: the church in Rome “is the greatest and most important and best-known of all . . . For with this church, because of her more powerful pre-eminence all churches must agree” (Against Heresies, III, 3.2) .
A Sensible Office
It makes sense that Jesus would establish such an authority in his absence—something like the Petrine office—because “the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9). We are easily fooled and distracted, and thereby often fail to hear the still, small voice of God. Yes, the Holy Spirit can and will lead us into all truth as Jesus promised—but how, exactly? Through prayer and contemplation of the scriptures, surely. But as St. Paul tells us, we are to “test everything [and] hold fast to what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). How should we test and confirm our spiritual sentiments? Through the infallible guidance of the Church, especially realized in the ministry of the chief bishop of the Church.
Papal infallibility is often misunderstood, but not because it is a hard concept to understand. It makes perfect sense. We need an infallible teaching authority because we are so fallible.
And because this charism exists to prevent the teaching of error in the universal Church, it is only present when the pope fulfills three narrow criteria. First, he must be teaching as the supreme pastor of the universal church. Second, he must have the intention of deciding a matter finally. Third, the teaching must be regarding faith and morals.
Assisted, Not Inspired
The writers of the New Testament were also specially influenced by God as they communicated religious truth. But there’s a critical distinction to be made here. The New Testament writers were not merely influenced—they were inspired. Indeed they were inspired in such a profound manner that, although it was mere creatures who put letters to the sacred page, God was in fact the primary author. Catholic theologian Ludwig Ott affirms this distinction in his well-known Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma:
This assistance [involved in papal infallibility] must be distinguished . . . from Inspiration, which is a positive influence effected by God over an author, of such a nature that God himself is the principal author of the writing, and the ideas are consequently the Word of God.
Whereas inspiration is a positive influence to “write only what God wants written,” papal infallibility is essentially a negative—or preventative—charism that prevents the chief teacher of the Church from teaching “what God does not want taught,” that is, from teaching error.
Peter the Pitiful
Given his blunderous and impulsive character, wasn’t the apostle Peter rather unfit for the job as infallible leader of the Church? What about his successors? Precisely so—at least according to worldly standards. By gospel standards, however, Peter was the perfect fit.
Truly at the crux of the Good News is the paradoxical truth that God “has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree” (Luke 1:52). Jesus specializes in making something great out the pitiful. Indeed during his earthly ministry he took a special interest in uneducated fishermen, sinful tax collectors—even murderers like Paul—many of whom he gave the task of overseeing his ministry and tending his flock.
Riddled as he was with imperfections, the genius of Peter’s selection may not have been immediately apparent. Centuries later, however, the power of God is clear. For the Chair of Peter still remains; no power has yet prevailed over the Church. “All the empires and the kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men and upon strong men,” writes Chesterton. “But this one thing, the historic Christian Church, was founded on a weak man, and for that reason it is indestructible. For no chain is stronger than its weakest link” (Heretics). Indeed, when Jesus gave Peter the keys and charism of infallibility, he infused the whole Christian people with a principle of unity that forms an unbreakable bond.
Peter’s Faith Did Not Fail
“The prayer of a righteous man is great in its effect,” writes St. James (James 5:16). How great in its effect must have been the Lord’s prayer for Peter when he said to his chief disciple, “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:32).
Indeed, from that perfect prayer of Christ have come two miracles that have strengthened the Church ever since. The first is the witness—the martyrdom—of Peter whose faith did not fail in the end. And the second is still with us; indeed we are living it—the indestructible Catholic Church, the community of believers in grace whose faith has been strengthened century after century by the Servant of the Servants of God, the pope.

No Birthday to Celebrate by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Abortion, Anxiety and Worry, Charity, Ethics, Forgiveness, Pro-Life, Relationships

Recently I saw a Gary Varvel cartoon depicting a multitude of children floating on a heavenly cloud with one saying to the other “I wish I could have celebrated a birthday”. In the cartoon there is another “cloud-baby” reading a newspaper with the headline ROE VS WADE now 35 (it is an old cartoon). The message was quite clear, the souls of all the aborted babies are in heaven, but they wish they had been given the opportunity to be born and enjoy all that our earthly lives enjoy, including birthday celebrations. This really hit me, especially with Right to Life Sunday coming this weekend. I find it difficult to comprehend how our Nation, whose Declaration of Independence says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Our government is supposed to protect these rights for all of us. Yet, the current law of the land allows us to kill unborn babies. We kill almost 2,000 per day. This is a true holocaust whose numbers far exceed any holocaust that man has done in history. We don’t use the term “kill”, we use “abort”. It sounds better but is truly the same thing. Many abortions are pure torture for the “baby” but we use the term “fetus” or “grouping of cells” to sound better. Look at any ultrasound picture; you can see that it is a baby. The torture consists of pulling off arms and legs and crushing heads. So much for the unalienable right to LIFE.
I know that abortion is a complicated topic today. I also know that too often women are in a very sad situation in life and they feel compelled to do this. However, I also know that any good human being must know that killing a defenseless child is bad, and that is what we are doing. Yes a woman does have the right to her own body, but what about the right the unborn baby has to live? No one should have a right to kill another living human being, especially the most vulnerable. It used to be that the Democratic Party prided itself on caring for the poorest and most defenseless but now they are the champions of Abortion. What happened? Certainly it seems that finances come in to play. USA today published an article on Feb 26, 2018 entitled, If the NRA owns Republicans, Planned Parenthood owns Democrats. There is no doubt that Planned Parenthood gives incredible financial aid to the Democratic Party and to Democratic candidates. It gives none to Republican candidates but spends considerable money to stop Republican candidates. Planned Parenthood receives about 587 million (2014 figures) in tax money and in the last three election cycles Planned Parenthood advocacy and political arms, employees, and their families have spent over $38 million to elect or defeat candidates for federal office who decide how much taxpayers subsidize the nation’s largest abortion provider. They appear now to be spending about $30 million for this year’s midterm elections to support democrats. Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire even goes so far to say that Planned Parenthood launders money for the Democratic Party “The abortion conglomerate has been giving millions to Democrat campaigns and Democrat causes for decades. Meanwhile, they are given millions — 500 million, to be exact — in taxpayer dollars annually.” It would appear that money trumps over care for the poor and defenseless babies in the womb. I find this very sad.
To be perfectly frank, I do not like Planned Parenthood. I look to some of the things that its founder, Margaret Sanger has said about the workings of Planned Parenthood. She referred to blacks and other minorities as “…human weeds,’ ‘reckless breeders,’ ‘spawning… human beings who never should have been born.” Margaret Sanger, Pivot of Civilization. She also said, “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population,” Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America, by Linda Gordon. Planned Parenthood seems to be doing that now through abortion and birth control measures. Our society seems to be ignoring this terrible race discrimination. As Christians, we recognize that all people are equal in the eyes of God. We are all His children. Planned Parenthood is quickly eliminating God’s children, both black and white, but with a very unequal rate against blacks. This has to stop.
We have lost over 56,000,000 lives to abortion since the Supreme Court decision (compare this to 1,354,664 total deaths in ALL the wars we have fought since we became a nation). I can’t help but to wonder if we killed off the person who would have found a cure to cancer, or other terrible diseases. What if we lost another Beethoven, or Tolkien or……. We really do not know. In 1994 Mother Theresa was invited to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast at the White House. She said, “The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.
By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And, by abortion, that father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. The father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.” It is also said that Hillary Clinton asked her why there hasn’t been a woman President yet and Mother Teresa said that is probably because she was aborted.
I have a great deal of compassion for the woman who finds herself pregnant and feels that she just cannot give birth to the child. So often she is led, not always freely, to choose abortion. Once she chooses this she is often filled with guilt and remorse. In my ministry as a deacon, I have dealt with a considerable number of women in this situation. I will share one story that I shared in a previous article. One time, a woman that I knew, come up to me and asked me why I was always smiling and always so happy. I told her that it was because I believed in a God who loved me, gave me hope and forgave me. She said that she found it hard to believe in a God like that. She had lived a very difficult life and it was only recently that she had been able to come out of those difficulties. A few days after our initial encounter, she asked to speak to me in private. We talked for a while and she told me that she didn’t think that God could forgive her. I asked her why she thought that. She told me that she had an abortion when she was quite young and that it had plagued her with guilt ever since. She told me that she couldn’t forgive herself, so how could God forgive her? I felt really bad for this woman, and the pain that she had held on to for over twenty years. She had been away from the Church for quite some time, but was just now thinking of coming back. I asked her to speak to a priest about forgiveness and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I also hooked her up with a local organization that gave counseling to women who have had abortions. Fortunately, she took me up on my advice and responded well and the change in her gives new meaning to the phrase, “born again”. Unfortunately she is not the only woman who has come to me with the same guilt and remorse that having an abortion brings.
Too often woman are coerced in to abortion by boyfriends, husbands, fathers and mothers, friends etc. Too often this coercion is through threats of violence and black mail. I feel so bad for these women. They should be given other choices. For me, adoption is one that helps all involved. We have one daughter who we adopted. Her birth mother was only 17 and a senior in High School but because she had the support of her family, she chose to give birth to her child and give her up for adoption. I thank God for that because now I have a daughter (and three grandsons) who have brought me so much joy. It is imperative that our government and churches and social agencies work to help women who are pregnant and do not have the ability to keep their children. What seems like a quick and easy out, abortion, often leads to much pain and guilt for all of their lives.
Lastly, we really need to consider the unborn baby. The life that is there should have the right to live and experience all that life has to offer us, including celebrating birthdays. Abortion totally takes that away from them. Even in life situations where poverty and disease and handicaps seem to indicate that life will not be good, so many examples exist to show that children can excel no matter what. It is the mandate of society and its government to make sure that we all have that inalienable right to life. God has brought forth life and we should not take that away. We need to create a society where life is respected and we all work together to ensure that.

Social Media Magisterium by Shaun McAfee – A book review by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Books, Church, Communication, Converts, Evangelism, Family, Holy Spirit, Pope Francis, Relationships, Social Media

Shaun McAfee has done it again. This is his fourth book and like the others it is easy to read and very informative. It also offers very practical advice based upon the years of experience Shaun has had using Social Media. This is a book that all Christians should read. It clearly presents Social Media as the tool to use to spread the Good News of God’s love. The title should grab most Catholics (Magisterium), but I hope that all Christians read it. Never before has the Church had such a great means to spread the Gospel message as we have today because of the Internet and Social Media. It would be a sin (probably literally) for Christians not to use this.
I have always viewed media as a powerful tool for society. I was co-editor of my High School news and in college I was a radio newsman and radio disc jockey. I was a member of the National Honor Society for Communications and studied communications in college. All of what Shaun says in this book fits in with what I have learned. I was pleasantly surprised that in the beginning of the book he mentions Marshall McLuhan (the intellectual of communications studies), who I studied extensively, but only found out from Shaun that he was a Catholic of extraordinary faith and had a real devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We never learned that in our studies. Marshall McLuhan really predicted the birth of the Internet 30 years before it began. He called it the “global village” that communications would forge. Today we have that global village and as the scriptures say in Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest”. You and I need to meet that call.
This book will help you meet that call. Shaun starts out with a history of the many documents issued by the Church on media. He then gives a little background, or as he calls it, “re-introduction in Social Media”. Both of these chapters are great but his third chapter “The Media and the Family” impressed me greatly. All parents and grandparents will find this chapter interesting and judicious for their time spent in the family. There is no doubt that as good as the Internet is; it also has its dark side. Like any tool, it can be used for good or for bad. It can be under-used and over-used. This chapter looks at the use of the Internet and the affect it has upon family life. Don’t miss this chapter. You probably should read it twice. There is a lot of “meat” there.
The fifth chapter is on Ecumenism: Sharing the Idea of Unity. I absolutely loved this chapter. I am a convert to Catholicism and so is Shaun. He presented many ideas that I have thought about over the last 40 years. As a convert I know the great presence of faith within the Protestant tradition, but I also know of the great lack of Unity there. As a Catholic I recognize the truth of our faith and how in our faith we are called to always share the truth but also seek to deal with Protestants as our own brothers and sisters in the faith. Shaun does a great job showing how all of us, with the proper use of Social Media can do both. Social Media is not just for Evangelizing unbelievers, but is also great for helping all of us grow towards obtaining what Jesus prayed for; that all might be one.
The last chapters of the book give great practical advice to bloggers and really to all that use Social Media in any of its forms. This too should be a must read. Shaun has had a great deal of experience in the use of all forms of Social Media and his suggestions are great. He tells us of things to do and things not to do. Both of these are important to know. His suggestions, as practical as they are, also fit in to what the many Church documents call us to do. The sub-title of this book is “A No-Nonsense Guide to the Proper Use of Media”. This book certainly does this. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has used social media in any form or who plans on using it shortly. I think that covers just about everyone.
Note: I can’t help but to mention the cover of this book which is done by the very creative TJ Burdick. It is the very famous “Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo found on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. However, on the cover Adam is holding a cell phone showing its apps and God the Father is pointing towards it apparently ready to touch one of the apps. It is said that Michelangelo has God the Father pointing to Adam’s outstretched finger ready to impart the gift of life to him. Perhaps we can fast forward and say that God the Father has given us the Internet to continue to give life to mankind. I do think it can do that. In the original fresco God the Father is clothed and Adam is in full frontal nudity. However, on this book cover (back) the book bar code covers this up much better than a leaf would. Nice placement, TJ.

Embracing Death: The Ultimate Act of Faith and Trust – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Death and Dying, Family, Prayer, Relationships

Death is something that all of us must face some day. It is not an option. It is something that we all have in common, no matter what our station is in life. In my 38 years of diaconal ministry I have ministered to many who are close to death. Some people are fearful of death and try to avoid it no matter what the cost. Others seem to welcome it and even embrace it. I hope that when my time comes, I too will be able to welcome it and embrace it. It seems that when we have lived a life of faith and especially of trust in Jesus, we naturally can welcome and embrace death for it is our ultimate act of faith and trust.
A couple of weeks ago a close friend of mine called me and told me that one of his very good friends, Peter (not his real name) was near death. My friend told me of how close he was to Peter and how this man had helped him in his faith journey and even in meeting his wife. Now Peter was dying from cancer and had some questions about the death process. My friend asked me to come with him to visit Peter and hopefully answer his questions. I, of course, said yes and went with him that day. When I went to this dying man’s home, I was greeted by his wife and grown children. They were there to support him. As soon as I went in to Peter’s room, I could tell that he was weak and probably would die fairly soon. The cancer had taken all of the strength out of him, but his mind functioned very well. The first thing that we did was to pray for a moment. He then asked me how long this process of dying would take and what to expect. I had the sense that he had hoped the time would be short, but that he was also unsure of the process of dying.
Now I knew from my friend that Peter was a man of faith. He was a good Catholic that had attended things like Christian Awakening weekends and Charismatic prayer meetings. My friend told me that Peter had invited him to a Christian Awakening weekend many years ago and it was at that weekend that my friend met his future wife and also met Jesus in a new and real way. That weekend was instrumental in making my friend in to the good Catholic man that he is today, thanks to the Peter’s invitation. Peter’s faith had carried him through many difficulties in life. Now, his faith and trust in Jesus had to carry him through the death process.
Since Peter’s first question was how long it would take for him to die, I answered him by telling him that none of us can really know. Doctors can give estimates during fatal illnesses, but these are at best only an estimate. I told him that the timing was in God’s hands, BUT, in my many years of ministering to the dying, I found that those who had told their families and had told God that they were ready to die seemed to die quickly. This man seemed very happy to hear that. I then went through with him our Catholic teaching on death and what awaits us (for further information see my previous article by clicking the link below). The dying man seemed to find peace in what I said. I then told him that if he were ready to die, he should first tell his family members who gathered around him and then tell God that he was ready. Peter put a small smile on his face. We then all prayed together around him, including a Hail Mary. I told him that I would stop by again in two days.
The next day my friend called me to tell me that his friend had died, in peace. I truly believe that he had made peace with his family and had told God that he was ready. I know in my heart that this man had accepted, and even embraced and welcomed death. His struggles with cancer were now over and he was in the arms of God’s love and mercy. Death is hard on those who are left behind. My friend is a really great man and strong in his faith but I knew that this death was hard on him. I do see how God helped my friend in this. The day that Peter died, my friend was out on a long bicycle trip with another friend that we have in common. Because both of them have difficult schedules, this day trip was planned about two months before. My friend received the call of Peter’s death in the middle of the bicycle trip. Fortunately our other friend was with him and this helped tremendously. He too is a man of faith and a good Catholic. The beauty of the weather and their journey through a park and along the ocean brought comfort to my friend. Plus he had a good friend, a man of God with him. God put all of this together.
My friend was asked to do the eulogy and was a little nervous about it. He took a day to work on it and the next day I called him and asked him out to breakfast. I knew that his wife was away on retreat that weekend and that he was all alone. We had a great breakfast and talked a lot about the deceased. I then went with him over to his house to listen to the eulogy that he had written. He did a great job on the eulogy and was thankful to me for spending the time with him that day. It helped bring him strength and comfort. My friend knew the power of God working through the friends that he had. It truly helped him with this difficult time and made him strong enough to deliver a great eulogy.
Death is difficult on all who go through it. However faith in our Lord and the ability to trust in him (I love the Divine Mercy picture of Jesus that tell us JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU) can bring us true freedom where we can accept and embrace and welcome death when it is our time. It also gives us the ability to deal with loss when a loved one dies. God is so good. He is the God of LIFE and peace and comfort and strength.

For a previous article on death and dying see:   http://deaconmarty.com/lord-of-the-dead-by-deacon-marty-mcindoe/

Tepidity by A.J. Avila

Anxiety and Worry, Evangelism, Healing, Holy Spirit, Prayer, Purgatory, Relationships, Sacraments, Scripture, Spirituality

There’s a show on television called Air Disasters, and some time ago they ran a segment on the September 25, 1978 PSA crash in San Diego.
I remember that day very well. Like everybody else, I saw the news coverage on television. On approach to the airport, the PSA jet had collided with a Cessna flying in the area. The jet’s right wing caught on fire, and both planes crashed. Everyone on the planes, along with seven people on the ground, perished.
[SIDENOTE: The photo above is of the actual plane going down. The collision was so loud it was heard on the ground, and a photographer aimed his camera upward and took that picture.]
But what I didn’t know, until my sister phoned me, was that a friend of mine had been on board the PSA jet. He was only 26 and was on his way to San Diego to open a photography studio.
I debated whether or not to record the Air Disasters show. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what my friend went through those last terrifying seconds of his life. After I did record it, it sat in my DVR a couple of days before I got up the courage to watch it.
A lot of things, I saw, went wrong that day. I discovered several factors had contributed to the crash. For example, an imminent collision alarm had gone off in the control tower but was ignored because the alarm had been sounding when there was no problem. The PSA pilot had seen the Cessna but then had lowered his seat, which took it out of his line of vision. The Cessna was flown by a student pilot who was learning to operate by instruments only, and so he was wearing a helmet that allowed him to see nothing but the control panel. And for some inexplicable reason, he had changed course. The radio transmission from the PSA pilot was a bit garbled, but it sounded to the air traffic controller like the pilot had said he had already flown past the Cessna. The combination of these incidents led to a terrible disaster.
Something else went wrong that day, horribly wrong. It wasn’t something that caused the crash. It was something that happened after the crash, or rather, something that didn’t happen after the crash. As ashamed as I am to admit it, not once did it occur to me to pray for the soul of my friend.
I had been raised Catholic, attended Catholic elementary school, and in fact was teaching in a Catholic high school at the time. I knew about Purgatory. I knew how important it is to pray for our deceased friends and relatives.
Why, oh why did it not occur to me to pray for my friend? You’d think all the news coverage, including a photo of the plane going down, wing afire, on the cover of Life magazine, (yes, that picture above is the one) would be enough to kick-start me into a rosary, at least. Yet somehow, it wasn’t. Why not?
Well, I’ll tell you why. That is what happens when you become a tepid Catholic.
If you’d asked me back then, I would have told you I was a great Catholic. I put in my hour at Mass every Sunday. I put money into the collection basket. Hey, I even taught in a Catholic school!
Yet the rest of the time I pretty much ignored God, except, of course, when I wanted a personal favor. My rosary was packed away in a drawer. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been to Confession.
In Luke 17:10 Jesus has some harsh words for those who do the bare minimum, calling them unworthy servants. In Revelation 3:16, He even states that He spits lukewarm souls out of his mouth. (The Douay-Rheims version uses the word “vomits” instead of “spits.”)
I thank God that He eventually wacked me over the head with a spiritual 2 x 4, and I finally came to my senses. Prayers and Masses were offered for my friend and other souls for whom I should have pleaded.
I don’t know if such things work retroactively. But, if my prayers were too late for my friend, I am certain they were applied to other members of the Church Suffering.
Let’s not forget those who have passed on before us. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5:7) And let’s be useful, not worthless, servants who live our faith daily through prayer and sacrifice.

The original post can be found at:  Reflections On My Catholic Journey

Witnessing – by A.J. Avila

Anxiety and Worry, Ethics, Evangelism, Forgiveness, Morality, Peace and Justice, Relationships, Trust

I know a person who actually was in a witness protection program.
He worked for a financial institution, and apparently some swindling was going on in the background. It showed up in an audit, and my friend was served with a subpoena to testify in court.
That’s when, in the middle of the night, a couple of guys kicked in his apartment door, shoved the business end of a gun between his eyes, and told him that if he testified, they would come back and pull the trigger.
After they left, he called the police.
The police called the FBI.
The FBI agents told him to pack a suitcase, that he was moving out immediately and going into witness protection.
Within a day they had found him a new apartment and moved his belongings there. He was told not to contact anyone he knew, neither friends nor family. An FBI agent moved into the apartment in order to protect him.
My friend couldn’t believe this was happening. He knew only a tiny piece of what was a complicated jigsaw puzzle in the embezzlement case. But, apparently, it was a pertinent piece.
It took my husband and I a while to realize our friend had dropped off the radar. He wouldn’t return our phone calls, and after talking to some other friends, we realized he wasn’t getting in contact with them either.
Then, one day, out of the blue, he called me.
He said he was okay but couldn’t tell me what was going on. He said he had snuck a cell phone down to the laundry room and that’s how he could phone me.
Like a soldier on a foreign battlefield, he was hungry for news from home. I filled him in on the latest in our lives.
Meanwhile, as I later found out, he wasn’t allowed to get a job because those who were threatening his life might find him that way. He was stuck in an apartment with nothing to do for month after month as the case dragged through the legal system. Worse, since he couldn’t work, the expenses of living were eating up his life savings.
And, after everything my friend went through, the District Attorney dropped the charges.
For all I know, threats were made to other individuals subpoenaed to testify, and they caved in—resulting in the lack of enough evidence to prosecute.
Whatever the reason, it freed my friend to get out of witness protection and go back to his life.
I consider my friend a martyr.
The word “martyr” means “witness.” Having the guts to stand up and tell the truth when threatened isn’t easy. In some ways a daily martyrdom like that is even tougher than a quick noose or ax.
I’m glad to report that my friend has gotten back on his feet and is doing well.
As for the embezzlers, the statute of limitations has run out. They probably think they got away with it.
But, as you and I know, God Himself is also a witness to their crimes, and unless they repent, the charges will not once again be dropped.

A Birthday Reflection of LIFE – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Ethics, Family, Prayer, Pro-Life, Relationships

My birthday is coming up in a few days and I was reflecting on that in prayer. The Lord reminded me what a very precious gift that LIFE is. I certainly enjoy life and try to celebrate it every day in every way that I can. I haven’t had a life without any problems, but I do see how even those problems helped me to better experience LIFE itself. I feel extremely blessed and I thank God for that gift. I also know that I have to thank my parents for that. Actually, I have been doing ancestral research ever since I did my DNA testing and I see that I have a lot more than just my parents to thank.
During my reflecting time I realized something quite challenging. I realized that I had been born in to a situation that could have very easily brought about the termination of my life. My mother married my birth father when she was just 20 years old. He had just come back from Europe after spending many years in the Army in WWII. He was one of the many who stormed the beaches at Normandy. When I visited Normandy several years ago I was confronted with the realization that he had been part of an extremely bloody battle. We lost almost 10,000 soldiers in the Invasion of Normandy. Fortunately my birth father was not one of them. My wife and I stood on the beaches at Normandy and she said to me, “Just think, if your birth father had been one of the many killed, you wouldn’t be here.” I then started thinking about those almost 10,000 men (probably more like boys) who were killed and all those children that they never were able to father. When you look at it that way you see how the casualties of war are so much greater than the numbers reported.
When my mother married my birth father at the age of 20, I am sure that she thought this was a marriage that would last forever and be filled with children. My mother became pregnant with me just a month after they married and I was born when she was just 21. As soon as my mother told my birth father that she was pregnant, he left her. He couldn’t handle the idea of having a baby. My guess is that he suffered from what they then called, “shell shock” and what we today call, “post traumatic stress disorder”. My mother had no idea where he had taken off to. Even his mother had no idea where he had gone. He just disappeared. It must have been so difficult on my mother to try to deal with a new husband who had left her in the beginning of her pregnancy. Her source of support was now missing. She probably thought about what “options” she might have, and even though it wasn’t legal then, abortion was common enough to be one of those options. I give thanks to God that she chose to continue nurturing and loving the LIFE inside of her. I also give thanks that she had parents that were able to welcome her in to their home. She moved in with my grandparents and lived there until she married again to my true father. I shared no DNA with him, but he legally adopted me and treated me and loved me as his son. God really blessed me.
Those first 9 years were difficult on my mom. She was a beautiful blond haired, blue eyed woman who could have lived a very active social life, but now she had to live with her parents and work hard to support me. She even shared a bed with me until I was about 5 and then had to sleep on the couch to give me her bed. She made many sacrifices for me and I could never thank her enough for all she had done. There is no doubt that aborting me would have been easier for her and given her a life style that most women that age wanted. But she chose LIFE and that is why I exist. Thank you Mom.
My wife and I were never able to have children. After much prayer, the Lord led us to adopt our daughter, who has been, and still is, a great joy to us. Again I was confronted with the gift of someone choosing LIFE and not abortion. My daughter’s birth mother was a High School Senior and only 17 years old when she became pregnant as a result of a summer romance. Certainly this was an inconvenient pregnancy, but she too chose LIFE instead of abortion. I know that it couldn’t have been easy on her to have this baby and to give up this baby but I am so glad that she did. I can’t picture my life without my daughter and the three grandsons that she has given us.
So after reflected on all of this, I can’t help but to shout out loudly CHOOSE LIFE and to absolutely denounce abortion. I feel for so many woman who become pregnant at a time that is not good for them. I just hope that they can find the courage and strength and support to give birth to their child. If they cannot keep them, I hope they consider adoption. It is a precious gift to another couple. Our God is a God of LIFE. I thank Him for my life and I thank Him for my mom and the birth mom of my daughter. I thank Him for all those who work hard to defend LIFE and all those who choose LIFE. LIFE is good. God is good.

The Last Jedi and 6th Century Irish Monks by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Church, Jewish roots, Movie Reviews, Prayer, Relationships, Spirituality

I have to confess, I love the Star Wars movies. They appeal to my love of science fiction as well as my love of seeing good triumph over evil. The last two movies have been quite interesting. In the 2015 The Force Awakens we are reunited with some of the original cast members. It ends with the search for the Jedi, Luke Skywalker. They search throughout the galaxy and he is finally found, all alone, in a mysterious land with ancient stone structures. The new 2017 movie, The Last Jedi takes us back to this mysterious land. It is beautiful and remote and ancient looking. The movie cameras do a great job of capturing the strange beauty that this land holds. Luke Skywalker went there to “get away” and now a new Jedi comes to be trained by him in the ways of the Force and the Jedi. The interesting thing is that this new mysterious beautiful land is not a construct for the movie. Rather, it is a place that has been a “get away” since the 6th century. It is an island off the coast of Ireland called Skellig Michael.
Skellig Michael appears to have been uninhabited until the 500’s when Irish monks came and built their monastery there. It is a beautiful island surrounded by turbulent seas and high winds. That is what kept the people from inhabiting it and what caused the monks to move there. Escaping from the world or getting away is nothing new. From about the 2nd century before Christ, the Jews had a monastic community called the Essenes. They escaped from the main communities by going in to uninhabited parts of the Jewish desert. Early Christians knew of the Essenes and also knew of St. John the Baptist who “got away” and of Jesus who went in to the desert for 40 days and nights to pray. Inspired by this, early Christians would often go out in to the desert and live in caves and pray. Around the 3rd century they started forming small monastic communities in remote areas so they were away from the normal society and its distractions. Eventually monastic rules of life developed and larger communities thrived. Most of this originally was in North Africa, the mid east and the holy lands. This spread somewhat in to western Mediterranean cities in Italy and France. By the 500’ s it spread to England and Ireland. Skellig Michael is one of the early Irish monastic communities.
The monastic community on Skellig Michael was a small community but flourished until the 13th century when climate changes and changes in Church culture forced it to be abandoned. The structures now there consist of stone bee-hive buildings as well as a larger gathering hall and a Church. After the monks left Skellig Michael the only inhabitants were the sea birds. The buildings that we see today are those built 1500 years ago. The Irish office of Public Works repaired some of the buildings in the 1800’s. At that time they built two lighthouses on the island. Except for lighthouse personnel, the island has remained uninhabited. In 1996 it was made a World Heritage Site. When the Star Wars producers decided to use the location for filming the Irish government gave them permission. Because of this, there are now tours out to the island. I didn’t know about it the last time I was in Ireland, but the next time I go, I plan on visiting it. I am a little worried about the 600 stone steps you need to take to get to the monastery.
So how does this affect us? This Hollywood movie that takes place in the future has caused us to look back at our past. Just as the future Luke Skywalker went to the island to get away and reflect, the early Christian monks went to the island to get away and reflect. This need to remove ourselves from the distractions of everyday society is no less valid today than it was for the Essenes over 2000 years ago or for the early Christians or for us today. Everyday life and its distractions make it difficult to reflect on what God is trying to tell us. We all need to get away once in a while to try to center in on God. It isn’t necessary to go to Skellig Michael. We certainly can find places much closer. We don’t have to spend our lifetime away, but we should spend a little time away as often as we can. Certainly religious retreats can help us with that, but sometimes things much easier are good too. If we plan well, we can find some down time to sit by ourselves and reflect. Sometimes it is as easy as turning the radio off when we drive or going out for a quiet walk.
Star Wars talks about the Force. They continually use the phrase, The Force Be With You. We Catholic ‘s should be used to the phrase, The Lord Be With You. It is easy to see that the Star Wars force is none other than a reflection on our own God. Just as in Star Wars when the Jedi are called to put the force to the work of good, we too are called to put our faith to the work of good. Just as in Star Wars the Jedi need to reflect on and grow in their use of the force, we too need to reflect on and grown in our use of faith and God’s presence. Luke Skywalker knew what the early Irish monks of Skellig Michael knew; that to get closer to the Force/God, we need time away. Do yourself a favor; find some time to get away.

Judge Not by A.J. Avila

Anxiety and Worry, Communication, Divine Mercy, Peace and Justice, Relationships, Scripture, Uncategorized

Judge Not – by A.J. Avila

We all have a tendency to jump to conclusions.
That was certainly the case for me one time after a visit to my local library. Back then I was still single, and so I had gone there alone. On the way out, my arms laden with books, a rather seedy-looking man—who obviously hadn’t bathed for quite some time—held the door open for me. I thanked him as any lady should do when extended this courtesy.
But when we got outside in the parking lot, it was a different story. It was night, and except for the two of us, the lot was empty. I could hear this guy’s footsteps right behind me. And he was whistling the way a man whistles at a woman he thinks is attractive.
I began to panic. If he grabbed me, I had no defense. Fortunately, the police station shared the same parking lot. It occurred to me I should turn around, hurl my books at him, and run for the police station as fast as I could.
As I approached my car, I readied myself. To my distress, the footsteps were getting closer, and he was still whistling. I whipped around, about to pelt him with my books—
—and fortunately discovered what was really happening.
He wasn’t whistling at me.
He was calling his dog.
I have to admit the greater part of the reason I thought he was going to attack me was because of his appearance. Yes, I had judged him based upon that.
In Matthew 7:1, Christ admonishes us to “Judge not, that you may not be judged.”
So . . . what does that mean, exactly? Some folk seem to think anyone who judges another is guilty of breaking this prohibition. But then, ironically, those who think that way have already set themselves up as judges.
Does it mean I can’t judge someone without the proper placard or license plate parking in a handicapped space? Well, no—but also yes.
I can judge that it is breaking the law to park in such a space without the proper authorization. However, I can’t judge what is inside the heart of the person doing so.
For all I know, he missed the sign saying it’s a handicapped space. For all I know, he forgot his placard at home. (Not, I believe, that those would make any difference to a police officer who merely sees the car parked there.)
I can, in other words, judge an action, but I can’t judge a motive. We can’t judge even someone like Hitler that way. We can judge Hitler’s actions as wrong. But for all we know, Hitler was insane and therefore not responsible for them. Only God can infallibly determine that.
I’m sure that man in the library parking lot had no idea he was scaring me. I’m certain he wasn’t thinking about me at all.
I was right to be cautious about his actions.
But I was totally wrong about the motive for his behavior.

Posted on November 21, 2017 by ajavilanovels.  Visit A.J. Avila at Avila web page